Do you think that Renault/Alpine has had no direction since the 2009 crash scandal? Promoting Flavio Briatore after his controversial past is the principal a step forward or a moral mistake? - Rui'an

Let's sort out some history here. When Nelson Piquet intentionally crashed in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, "Crash Gate" was the name of the scandal, a plan to exploit his teammate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the game.

When what happened a year later turned into public, Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds were banned from participating in the sport, Briatore indefinitely, Symonds for five years. Renault itself has been suspended for two years.

Renault withdrew from F1 as team owner at the end of 2009 and sold the team to an investment group called Genii Capital, which saved Renault's name in 2010 and then ran for Lotus until 2016.

Renault continued to serve as F1 as the engine manufacturer and returned to the team owner in 2016 to buy back the team. Despite some progress, it sets an initial five-year plan to make it competitive, but not achieved.

The team was renamed the High Mountain when it developed a new plan in 2021, this time it was competitive in 100 games. The second five-year plan was effectively formulated.

They won the Grand Prix in 2021 at Esteban Ocon in Hungary, which is a particularly unusual situation. Alonso won the podium in Katar in 2021 and placed the car in the wet front row in Canada in 2022.

But there is little noticeable improvement, and over the past two years, the team has gone backwards.

The Alpine period was characterized by turmoil, a series of management changes and some very obvious examples of mismanagement.

The most obvious of these is when they managed to lose Alonso and Oscar Piastri one summer in 2022.

Fundamentally, during this period, Renault knew what it wanted, but there was no real indication that it understood how to get it.

Renault CEO Luca de Meo tried to inject some direction and energy into the team, and it was an attempt to introduce Briatore.

But what direction is still to be seen.

On the surface, shutting down the Renault F1 engine facility and switching to Mercedes engines from 2026 is a short-term way to save money and improve competitiveness, as Renault lags behind throughout the hybrid era, and the company is clearly reluctant to spend money to become competitive.

The allegations against Renault are that it betrayed the brand’s long history in F1 and misunderstood the team that traditionally became the leader. Although McLaren is currently proving that winning the world championship does not require a factory engine partnership.

As for Buryat, I'm not saying whether he was allowed to come back was right or wrong.

In 2010, a French court overturned the injunction against him. After that, Symonds recovered. One might argue that Briatore paid the price for his misdemeanor and should have the opportunity to work again.

Others would think this is wrong. But this sport as a collective sport has been decided.